Slot justifies the FA Cup team selection by saying, "They need the intensity."

After his significantly improved Liverpool squad lost to Championship bottom-club Plymouth in the FA Cup, Arne Slot defended his team selection.

After qualifying for the Carabao Cup final, the Premier League leaders were heavily favoured to go to the competition's fifth round, and rumours of a potential quadruple even started to circulate.

For the trip to Home Park, however, Slot made ten changes from the team that defeated Tottenham in the second leg of the competition's semifinal on Thursday, leaving off important players Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah. On Wednesday, Liverpool will go to Everton in an attempt to increase their lead over Arsenal to nine points at the top of the Premier League.

With only three shots on goal and an Expected Goals total of 0.44 from open play—their lowest since Slot took over—Luis Diaz, Federico Chiesa, and Diogo Jota were among the team's older players, but Liverpool found it difficult to generate chances.

Plymouth's Ryan Hardie scored a penalty, and Liverpool was unable to rally for a comeback.

"We must play a lot of games," Slot stated. We've performed twice a week for the past few weeks. We have to play twice in the next few weeks.

"It's beneficial for them [his starters] to occasionally play just one game, but it's also necessary for the players present today to experience the intensity of a game. In the Champions League, they had that versus PSV. Regretfully, they didn't win that one. They had that today, and regrettably, we also lost this one.

"Today also demonstrated why we use the ones that we did. Additionally, these players require game rhythm.

"You saw today some of these players really need games like this to be ready for the last three months of the season."

In addition, rookie Issac Mabaya replaced injured Joe Gomez, James McConnell replaced Dominik Szoboszlai, and 17-year-old Trey Nyoni replaced Ryan Gravenberch.

Slot: If a team doesn't always play together, it's difficult.
Arne Slot, the manager of Liverpool, told ITV:

"Plymouth played a fantastic game. They deserve all the credit for their well-thought-out strategy. The day was not going well for us. The result is something like this.

"I can't claim that the boys didn't fight; both teams hardly had a chance before the penalty was awarded. It is up to one instant in a game like this. They deserved that moment, and it was for them.

"I believe they could have performed better, but it's a system and a style of play that's difficult to break. It didn't surprise me. They were really combative when we had the ball.

It's difficult to establish, particularly if a squad hasn't played together much. Everyone is harmed. Our goal was to stay in this competition as long as we could.

"They fought till the very end; they were unable to discover opportunities, but it wasn't a work-rate issue. We need to be more imaginative.